NetScaler SDX VLAN Tagging (Trunking)

I needed to set up a trunk between a NetScaler VPX instance living on a NetScaler SDX box to a switching infrastructure at a customer's location.  In looking through Citrix's documentation on getting this configured, it is a bit hazy as to what needs to be done.  Keep in mind the following is what I needed to configure a specific NetScaler SDX and VPX instance environment, so your environment may differ a bit or completely.  To possibly help others out in their quest to perform a similar feat, here you go:

Step 1

I changed the NSIP to the same VLAN as the physical SDX interfaces 0/1 and 0/2 reside.  These ports are strictly for management, so this was the preferred method at this client.  The reason why I needed to do this was to separate the NSIP from the other production VLANs

Step 2

Create and verify all SNIP's on the NetScaler instance.

1. Navigate to NetScaler - Network - IPs on the NetScaler VPX instance.

2. Add/modify as needed.

Step 3

Create VLANs on the NetScaler instance and bound the appropriate SNIP and interface that will be used for VLAN tagging (trunking).

1. Navigate to NetScaler - Network - VLANs on the NetScaler VPX instance.

2. Click Add.

3. Enter the VLAN ID as specified in your switching infrastructure.

4. Select the SNIP for this VLAN.

5. Select the interface that will be performing VLAN tagging (trunking).

6. Make sure the Tag column is selected for the interface as well.

7. Click OK.  If you receive an error at this point, it is most likely caused by the SNIP being on the same VLAN as your NSIP.  To resolve this error, you need to separate the VLANs.

8. Repeat for the number of VLANs that will be passed to the NetScaler VPX instance.

Step 4

Set the interface on the NetScaler instance to "Tag all VLANs".

1. Navigate to NetScaler - Network - Interfaces on the NetScaler VPX instance.

2. Select the interface you are configuring for VLAN tagging (trunking) and click Open.

3. Next to Tag all VLANs select ON.

Step 5

Modify the VLAN filter on the SDX physical interface that will be passing VLAN tagging (trunking) by making sure the VLAN filter is turned off or configured with the appropriate VLAN tags.

1. Navigate to System - Interfaces on the NetScaler SDX Management Service VM web interface.

2. Select the interface you are configuring for VLAN tagging (trunking) and click VLAN Filter.

3. If the interface is listed, click on the "-" next to the interface.

I hope this helps.  Let me know if you have any comments, questions, or alternate ways of configuring this.